Hot Chip – One Life Stand

03Feb10

These last few weeks have seen UK-based electropop mainstay Hot Chip getting insane amounts of buzz. In addition to the thousands of blog posts scattered about the web, I’ve gotten texts, phone calls, emails, tweets and every other form of correspondence imaginable urging me to go listen to their new album, One Life Stand.

Yet despite the hype, I wasn’t expecting much. First off, I’m not the hugest fan of electronic music. With such an inorganic art form, it can be difficult to communicate a sense of authenticity. Very few bands have done it successfully–Nine Inch Nails, TV On The Radio and Yeasayer are the only ones that come to mind. Yet after sitting with this record for a good week, I can definitively say, Hot Chip’s One Life Stand now belongs in that group.

This is the first Hot Chip album written primarily by vocalists Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor. And it is their songwriting that helps One Life Stand outshine three previous albums. Thoughtful, introspective lyrics and an ever-changing sonic landscape drive the album forward. This in itself is rare for electronic-based albums that tend to run together, beating you in the head with their repetition. Tracks like We Have Love, or I Feel Better with it’s synth-strings, thumping beat and auto-tuned hook, are born for the club. Other tracks, like the wistful Alley Cats or Brothers, have a more personal feel–laidback and reflective.

One Life Stand is set to drop in the UK on February 8 and here in the US on the 9th. But you can download it right now from their store or stream it from their MySpace page. I highly recommend you check it out.